Cornell University anti-Israel student activists and the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine face suspension for the disruption of a panel last Monday on Middle East peace, Cornell Interim President Michael Kotlikoff announced in a Tuesday statement.
Seventeen people were identified by the Cornell University Police for protesting and heckling Pathways to Peace panelists ex-Israeli deputy prime minister Tzipi Livni, ex-Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad, and ex-US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro.
"Five hundred children in 2014 — you killed them!" one of the protesters may have mistakenly yelled at Livni, who was Justice Minister during Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza.
According to Tuesday's SJP Instagram video, protesters chanted "Palestine will live forever, from the sea to the river" as police led away hecklers,
SJP claimed in a Wednesday Instagram post that many of the protesters had engaged in a peaceful and silent walkout, and the administration and CUPD had utilized excessive force in violation of their freedom of expression.
Police said that they had arrested nine people for disorderly conduct at Bailey Hall, five of whom were referred to the Ithaca City Court, and four were referred to the Office of Student Conduct.
Another five students were referred to the student conduct office, which could result in interim measures, including suspensions, according to Kotlikoff. Staff members involved in the disruption were referred to Cornell Human Resources for disciplinary action, and outside agitators were barred from the campus. For its role in organizing and advertising the disruption, SJP faced suspension as a registered campus organization.
"Individuals attempting to shout down speakers and disrupt dialogue seriously compromise our values," said Kotlikoff. "Those who disrupted the Pathways to Peace event were swiftly removed."
Shapiro said in a Thursday statement that disciplinary action was appropriate, and despite the momentary disruptions, the panel of "Israeli, Palestinian, and American leaders" was able to continue "to discuss the war in Gaza following the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, and possible pathways to peace."
The university "expected protests from those who deny Israel’s right to exist and were well-prepared to handle them," said Shapiro.
Actions have consequences
The American Jewish Committee remarked on X Friday that if more universities created consequences for actions like at Cornell, there would be less need for government intervention.
SJP accused Cornell of silencing student voices by suspending their organization.
"This is a clear attempt to selectively remove students from campus life to further marginalize pro-Palestinian voices," SJP said on social media. "It will not succeed—we refuse to remain silent in the face of Cornell’s complicity in genocide."
Ahead of the event, SJP had posted advertisements calling for an "emergency walkout" in response to what they called a Zionist propaganda "pathways to genocide" event.
SJP accused the panelists of being war criminals claiming that Livni was responsible for war crimes during the 2008 Operation Cast Lead, Fayyad for being a US and Israel puppet, Shapiro for speaking against the BDS movement and facilitating the Abraham Accords, and moderator and for US diplomat Ryan Crocker for supposedly overseeing American human rights abuses throughout South Asia.
Kotlikoff said the event was held so that Cornell community members could listen to the perspectives of the former leaders and diplomats, and it was important that the institution be one where "all voices can be heard and none are silenced."
Livni told the audience that she wasn't interested in the "blame game" after October 7, according to the Cornell Chronicle, explaining that the "only way forward, if we want to live in peace, is to acknowledge both sides, the legitimate aspiration of both sides, to a state of their own, Israel and the Palestinians.”
“Hamas is an obstacle to peace and should be taken aside; and toppling this regime in Gaza is a necessity now, not as a punishment, but because there is no hope for peace with them,” said Livni.
“After the horrors of October 7, while many on the Israeli side believe that there is no hope of peace, that all the Palestinians are the same, when on the other side they see that some parts of the world are going to the extreme, while delegitimizing the mere existence of the State of Israel, I do believe that there is an opportunity here.”
Fayyad warned that Hamas was reconstituting its prewar government, and according to the Chronicle, said that the only way to defeat the jihadist group's ideology was to offer a competitive ideology.
Fayyad also explained that the Palestinians needed to create a mechanism to collectively define their objectives to "actually pave the way for a government in the way we believe is needed for the benefit of everybody, Israel, Palestinians alike, but also for regional and international."
